Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

IRELAND | ANNE DOLAN 883 1.1.2. The Package Holidays and Travel Trade Act 1995 Ireland does not have a history of the timely transposition of either package travel directive. The 1990 Directive was finally transposed into Irish law on the 17 June 1995, with the enactment of the “1995 Act”. Whilst the requirement to put security arrangements in place in the event of insolvency as provided for in Article 7 of the 1990 Directive and Section 22 of the 1995 Act was generally met by the bond which licence holders had in place for the purposes of their licence, the nature of the organiser’s liability for the proper performance of the package 13 was a very big adjustment for the sector. 1.1.3. The State Airports (Shannon Group) Act 2014 So as to give full effect, albeit belatedly, to the Services Directive 14 various amendments were made to the 1982 Act and the 1995 Act, by the State Airports (Shannon Group) Act 2014. 1.2. Regulatory Authorities From 1982 until 2001, the regulation of travel agents and tour operators came under the remit of the Department of Transport. The Aviation Regulation Act of 2001(“the 2001 Act”) established the Commission for Aviation Regulation (“the CAR”) and the ministerial functions in the 1982 Act were transferred, in the main, to the CAR (as indeed were the ministerial functions under the 1995 Act). The Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs was tasked, pursuant to Section 8 of the 1995 Act, with overseeing compliance with the requirements of the 1995 Act. The Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs was superseded by the National Consumer Agency, in 2007 15 . In 2014, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) was established, and the previous functions of the National Consumer Agency were subsumed into those of the CCPC 16 . 2. IRELAND TRANSPOSES THE DIRECTIVE Member States had until the 1 January 2018 to implement the Directive into national legislation, with a further six-month transition period until the 13 Article 5 of the 1990 Directive and Section 20 of the 1995 Act. 14 Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December, 2006 on Services in the Internal Market OJL376/36. 15 Section 7 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007. 16 Section 39 the Consumer and Competition Protection Act 2014.